


Camping

by giraffecentaurs



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Coming Out, I hope youll find the kindness in your heart to forgive this, LGBT+ Main Character, M/M, Rated t bc even though I don't think I said fuck I don't trust myself, Stan Sonia club, The oc is victor, anyways I'm gay and I have emotions so I needed an outlet, bc it felt too weird to write victor after playing as henry bennet for so long, but his name in this is henry bennet, major relationship tag worthy, moonlillie is mentioned but it's not like, planning on making this longer but the first chapter can stand alone p well I think, will add more tags if such an occasion arises
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:47:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22301326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giraffecentaurs/pseuds/giraffecentaurs
Summary: What's better than this, just a couple of guys being dudes in the great outdoors?
Relationships: Hop (Pokemon)/Original Character(s), Hop/Masaru | Victor
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Camping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The frustratingly unanticipated start of a trend

"You really don't talk much, do ya Henry Bennet?"

He smiled and shook his head no as he once again threw the ball. 

Hop rolled his eyes. _"Very_ funny, mate."

The stars overhead sparkled and the fire crackled quietly as the two of them sat there for a few gentle moments while their Pokemon played around them. It had been awhile since they took a moment to breathe together. Ever since their rivalry started, it felt like they weren't allowed to have normal conversations anymore. Henry Bennet frowned and looked back over at him. Hop was reclining back on a log, slowly but clearly falling asleep.

Henry Bennet threw the ball.

He remembered the conversation with Sonia he had at dinner earlier that week. 

"You alright, mate? Looks like something's eatin' at you." 

Before his mind could tell him to lie and saying everything was fine (again), he shook his head no, and before he even registered what he did he was crying.

"Ben? Ben!?" she moved to sit next to him. "Hey, what's up?" 

"S'nothing."

"S'not nothin'! If it's big enough to make you upset then its big enough to talk about, no matter how small it might seem in your head... Would it make you more comfortable if we went somewhere more private?" She rubbed his back a little. "I can call a taxi back to my place if you'd like. Then we can eat some right proper junk food, have a bit of a spa session, and get all our emotions out over a cheesy movie. Doesn't that sound nice?" 

He nodded. He already knew there was gonna be mad gossip about him being seen crying over sushi, he really didn't want to give the eavesdroppers (that had so quickly and strangely become ubiquitous in his life) even _more_ to talk about.

She paid for their meal and they left in an instant. 

Luckily, Professor Magnolia seemed to be out for the evening. Sonia hurriedly ushered him into her room and shut the door behind her before heading over to her wall of nail polish.

"Red or green?" 

"...Green, I think."

She picked up the cool green bottle and walked over to where he was now sitting. "You're gonna need to take the gloves off, lad."

He sighed. "I know, I know." He did so, revealing his raw, bitten nails. 

"Blimey, Henry!"

"I've been stressed!" 

"Well, I can see that!" she teased lightheartedly, though he knew that was only to ease into exploring exactly what the cause of that stress might be. She continued speaking while trying to salvage his nails into something presentable. "Is it the gym challenge boggin' you down, or is there something else getting at you?"

"Kind of. Don't think I quite realized how much it might put me in the public eye. Didn't plan on makin' it this far, t'be honest."

"And now there's a lot of pressure on your shoulders, right?"

He nodded.

"That's a rough row to hoe, for sure. It's a tough spot to be in Ben, but I believe in you! You just gotta have confidence in yourself. You're capable of great things, I know it!"

"Thanks Sonia, but... That's the problem, really. I… I know I _can_ do it. Yeah, when I started this all, I weren't so sure— Really, I only did it 'cause I thought it'd be a fun thing to do with Hop. But once I built up a team? I knew I was gonna go all the way. It just felt right. Like it was exactly where I was supposed to do. I love raising Pokemon, I love the thrill of battling, I love learning more about being a trainer and all that—"

"I'm sensing a but."

"...But, it's also changed a lot of things in a very short time. I mean, I can't trust anyone I see on the street anymore, I'm constantly worried about being chased by pokemon every street I go down, now everybody's always watching whatever I do, and…"

"And?"

"...Just because you love doing something, does that mean you wanna do it? D'you think you can love doing things you don't _want_ to do?"

"What'd'ya mean?" 

"I love winning battles, but I don't think I really want to do them most of the time, y'know? In order for me to win, somebody else had to lose, and I don't want to make other people lose. Makes me feel so _cruel._ And I can't just let 'em win, either, cause that's rude too. It's basically lying, and I'm a rubbish liar in the first place, so they'd know I wasn't givin' my all and _I'd_ know that _they'd_ know so _that also_ would make me feel awful—"

"Woah, woah, slow down there lad! That's a slippery slope and a half you've gotten yourself onto. Let's back up a bit, alright? You're saying to love battling, but you hate winning?"

"I hate watching other people lose. Especially when I'm the reason that they lost."

"Oh. Oh! Oh, I get it now. You hate watching _'other people'_ lose."

"Why'd you say it like that?"

"No offense Hen Ben, but you're not exactly hard to read."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" 

"It's just… this wouldn't happen to have anything to do with your most recent battle with a _certain rival_ who's been struggling a bit in the gym challenge, would it?"

"Er, well, uhm… maybe…"

She raised a prying eyebrow at him.

"Alright, yeah, that's exactly it. I mean, there's other people too. I don't feel good beating on Marnie or Bede or anyone like that. Plus do you know how terrible I'd feel if I ruined Leon's ten year undefeated streak? That he's worked so hard to maintain? Me, just some rando kid who did this all on a whim? It doesn't seem fair! God, I still cry a little each time one of my Pokemon faints like I'm a preschooler, I shouldn't have the right to steal other people's dreams!"

"Who's stealing anybody's dreams?"

 _"I_ am!" He tearfully shouted, "Hop's been training up for the gym challenge and to finally step out of his stupid brother's shadow for _years_ and I'm ruining it for him cause I'm a cruel, selfish git! His self esteem has tanked right down into the pits and it's all my fault. Look at him! He doesn't even wanna _talk_ to me anymore! He just wants to beat me, and I'm such a bad friend that I won't even let him get the satisfaction of kicking my team into the dirt. He _hates_ me now."

"Oh, Henry, sweetie. C'mon, c'mere." She hugged him tightly as he got out a good cry. "Watch the nails now, love." He gave a chuckle through his tears in his response, appreciating her attempt to brighten the situation. "Now you listen to me, if there's one thing I know, it's that Hop absolutely _does not_ hate you. Quite frankly, the idea of _anybody_ hating you is completely absurd to me, but the last person in _the world_ who could would be that boy." She loosened her grip and looked him in the eye. "You two need to talk this out together, alright? You clearly both have a lot on your minds, and it's not gonna be helpful to either of you to keep it all bottled up."

"No. No, _absolutely_ not!" he protested all too defensively.

"Oh? Why not?"

"Because if I—" he bit his lip, as though trying to force his words to stay in his mouth. After a few seconds of careful consideration, he responded in a much quieter tone, "If I start talking to him about my feelings, I don't think I'll be able to stop."

"That's not a problem; in fact, I daresay that's the whole point."

"But it is! It is because… because I like him, Sonia."

"And you're worried about his feelings getting hurt?"

"No— well, yes, but, not what I meant. I… I like him… like… like like him... I'm…" His voiced diminished with his stature, continuing at an almost inaudible volume. "M' _gay…_ and I'm not ready for him to know that." 

She was silent for a long while, but she didn't move away from holding him. It was clear that it wasn't that she wasn't supportive, it was just that she didn't know what to say. In that moment, he realized just how young Sonia still was herself. Regardless of how often he looked to her for experience, it was only a few years ago that she was going through her own gym challenge and all the drama that entailed.

The tears had stopped flowing at some point in this silence, and Henry Bennet continued to speak while she was trying to come up with a response.

"Over in Alola they have a similar thing. S'not quite a gym challenge, but it's close enough. I have a cousin who lives there who wrote me during the whole process. Her rival, Hau, he seemed like he was a real hoot and a half— but the person she mostly kept talking about was this girl named Lillie. My cousin, she's like me… y'know… gay, I guess… and she fell for this Lillie girl hard, but after they were all done, she moved away. Said she wanted to get stronger, to be able to come back and beat my cousin in a battle one day. Obviously that weren't all there was to it, but... I can't help but think… worry… what if Hop decides he needs to get stronger and leaves me and all this behind him, too?"

Sonia sighed. "As you get older, things are bound to change. Well I certainly can't tell you how they'll change, they almost always change for the better, even if it doesn't feel like it at the time. Sometimes, people drift apart, or discover something new about themselves that causes them to need to make some big choices, and while it's tough in the moment, it's apart of life. There'll always be good memories, Henry Bennet; they don't go anywhere, even when people do. But in order to make sure those good memories happen, sometimes we've got to put ourselves on the line. You gotta do what's right for you, and he'll do what's right for him, but in order for either of you to figure out what it is without completely driving each other away, you need to talk it out."

Henry Bennet smiled softly and finally let himself rub his eyes. Surely the polish must've been dry. "God you're good."

Sonia smiled. "Oh, shush up! C'mon, I do believe a bad movie and some junk food are on our docket." 

"Hen!" He snapped back to the present as he heard Hop call his name before immediately getting smacked in the face with a rubber ball.

"Oi! What's that for!" He looked over to see Hop pinned down underneath Sausage, who was aggressively wagging her tail as she licked his face. 

"It was for throwing the ball at me while I was nappin' causin' your mutt to sic me, you oaf!" 

Henry Bennet looked around the campsite and saw that most of their pokemon were starting to fall asleep, the fire dwindling down as the stars fully took over the night sky. How long had he been out of it? 

"Sorry, must've been dozing off m'self," he mumbled out with a slight giggle. "S'pack it in, yeah? Gettin' late."

"Yeah, guess you're right. Probably not a great idea to be lying out in the open where the bewears can get to us 'n all. Shame, though, it's such a lovely night." They herded all their 'mons into the tent (they didn't have the heart to put them back in their pokeballs, so it was rather crowded) and got ready for bed.

"Hop?"

"Yeah?"

"..."

"Hen? You good?"

"...I just… uh… just wanted to say that I really like… hanging out… like this… with you…"

Hop smiled. "I do too. G'night."

Henry Bennet watched as Hop got into his sleeping bag and shut off the lantern. He laid there awake long enough to hear him start snoring.

 _Not now,_ he thought, _not here._

_But someday. Soon._

_I'll talk to him about it someday soon._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I hope you enjoyed! I'm a bit Rusty so I hope it's not too clunky lol. Lmk if you want me to continue this story a bit! This chapter takes place right before the eighth gym battle, so there's still a lot of growing to do! Not to mention the rest of it would probably actually focus more on the actual camping! Oh, and I hope the name thing wasn't too confusing!! Oh god, how do I stop adding exclamation points!!! Sausage is Henry's Boltund, btw lol. I'm not advanced enough for footnotes. She's a very good girl. Have a lovely day, everyone!


End file.
